[pessimizer]

> inhibiting some of your brain's filtering mechanisms to see phenomena and form connections that would normally be filtered out.

I think it's more like inhibiting some of the functioning of your brain by clogging a type of receptor, so your sensations are severely distorted and you have to work around the damage by processing input using other pathways.

[braingenious]

GP’s description is accurate. Traditional psychedelics work by inhibiting the reticular activating system(1), which indeed is important for cognitive filtering. Phrases like “clogging” and “damage” aren’t particularly scientific or accurate.

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reticular_formation#Ascendin...